Each GRE sample sentence completion question below has one or two blanks. Each blank shows that something has been omitted. Under each GRE sample sentence completion question five words are given as choice. Choose the one correct word for each blank that best fits the meaning of the sentences as a whole.
The fact that the _________ of confrontation is no longer as popular as it once was __________ progress in race relations.
a. insidiousness - reiterates
b. practice - inculcates
c. glimmer - foreshadows
d. technique - presages
e. reticence - indicates
Ans : D
A child should not be ___________ as being either very shy or over ___________ aggressive.
a. categorized
b. instructed
c. intoned
d. distracted
e. refrained
Ans : A
President Anwar el _________ Sadat of Egypt, disregarding - criticism in the Alab world and in his own Government, _________ accepted prime minister Menahem Begin's invitation to visit Israel in order to address the Israeli parliament.
a. acrimonious - formally
b. blemished - stiffly
c. categorical - previously
d. malignant - plaintively
e. charismatic - meticulously
Ans : A
In his usual _________ manner, he had insured himself against this type of loss.
a. pensive
b. providential
c. indifferent
d. circumspect
e. caustic
Ans : D
We never believed that he would resort to _________ in order to achieve his goal; we always regarded him as a _________ man.
a. charm - insincere
b. necromancy - pietistic
c. logic - honorable
d. prestidigitation - articulate
e. subterfuge - honest
Ans : E
The Sociologist responded to the charge that her new theory was _________ by pointing out that it did not in fact contradict accepted sociological principles.
a. unproven
b. banal
c. superficial
d. complex
e. heretical
Ans : E
Despite assorted effusion to the contrary, there is no necessary link between scientific skill and humanism, and quite possibly, there may be something of a _________ between them.
a. dichotomy
b. congruity
c. reciprocity
d. fusion
e. generosity
Ans : E
The most technologically advanced societies have been responsible for the greatest _________ indeed savagery seems to be indirect proposition to _________ .
a. inventions - know-how
b. wars - viciousness
c. triumphs - civilizations
d. atrocities - development
e. catastrophes - ill-will
Ans : D
Verbal Section : Sentence Completions Questions
Ironically, the party leaders encountered no greater _________ their efforts to build as Progressive Party than the _________ of the progressive already elected to the legislature.
a. obstacle to - resistance
b. support for - advocacy
c. praise for - reputation
d. threat to - promise
e. benefit - success
Ans : A
The simplicity of the theory - its main attraction _________ is also its - for only by _________ the assumptions of the theory is it possible to explain the most recent observations made by researchers.
a. glory - rejecting
b. liability - accepting
c. undoing - supplementing
d. downfall - considering
e. virtue - qualifying
Ans : C
That the Third Battalion's fifty percent casually rate transformed its assault on Hill 306 from a brilliant stratagem into a debacle does not _________ eyewitness reports of its commander's extra-ordinary _________ in deploying his forces.
a. invalidate - brutality
b. gainsay - cleverness
c. underscore - ineptitude
d. justify - rapidity
e. corroborate -determination
Ans : B
No longer _________ by the belief that the world around us was expressly designed for humanity, many people try to find intellectual _________ for that lost certainty in astrology and in mysticism.
a. satisfied - reasons
b. reassured - justifications
c. restricted - parallels
d. sustained - substitutes
e. hampered - equivalents
Ans : D
In eighth-century Japan, people who _________ wasteland were rewarded with official ranks as part of an effort to overcome the shortage of _________ fields.
a. cultivated - domestic
b. located - desirable
c. conserved - forested
d. reclaimed - arable
e. irrigated - accessible.
Ans : D
Clearly refuting sceptics, researchers have _________ not only that gravitational radiation exists but that it also does exactly what the theory _________ it should do.
a. assumed - deducted
b. estimated - accepted
c. supposed - asserted
d. doubted - warranted
e. demonstrated - predicted.
Ans : E
Melodramas, which presented stark oppositions between innocence and criminality, virtue and corruption, good and evil, were popular precisely because they offered the audience a world _________ of _________
a. deprived - polarity
b. full - circumstantiality
c. bereft - theatricality
d. devoid - neutrality
e. composed - adversity.
Ans : D
Sponsors of the bill were _________ because there was no opposition to it within the legislative, until after the measure had been signed into law.
a. well-intentioned
b. persistent
c. detained
d. unreliable
e. relieved.
Ans : B
Verbal Section : Sentence Completions Questions
Ecology, like economics, concerns itself with the movement of valuable _________ through a complex network of producers and consumers.
a. nutrients
b. dividends
c. communications
d. artifacts
e. commodities.
Ans : C
Having fully embraced the belief that government by persuasion is preferable to government by _________ the leaders of the movement have recently _________ most of their previous statements supporting totalitarianism.
a. proclamation - codified
b. coercion - repudiated
c. participation - moderated
d. intimidation - issued
e. demonstration - deliberated.
Ans : B
It would be difficult for one so _________ to be led to believe that all men are equal and that we must disregard race, color and creed.
a. tolerant
b. democratic
c. broadminded
d. emotional
e. intolerant.
Ans : E
Many philosophers agree that the verbal aggression of profanity in certain redical newspapers is not _________ or childish, but an assault on _________ essential to the revolutionary's purpose.
a. insolent - sociability
b. trivial - decorum
c. belligerent - fallibility
d. serious - propriety
e. deliberate - affectation.
Ans : B
The _________ tones of the flute succeeded in _________ his tense nerves.
a. rhapsodic - minimizing
b. blatant - enhancing
c. hovendous - calming
d. vibrant - portraying
e. mellifluous - soothing.
Ans : E
Without the psychiatrist's promise of confidentiality, trust is _________ and the patient's communication limited; even though confidentiality can thus be seen to be precious in thercopy, moral responsibility sometimes requires a willingness to _________ it.
a. lost - forget
b. implicit - extend
c. impaired - sacrifice
d. ambiguous - apply
e. assumed - examine.
Ans : C
Parts of seventeenth-century Chinese pleasure gardens were not necessarily intended to look _________ they were designed expressly to evoke the agreeable melancholy resulting from a sense of the _________ of natural beauty and human glory.
a. great - immutability
b. joyful - mortality
c. conventional - wildness
d. cheerful - transitoriness
e. colorful - abstractness.
Ans : D
Despite the _________ of many of their colleagues, some scholars have begun to emphasize ''pop culture'' as a key for _________ the myths, hopes, and fears of contemporary society.
a. pedantry - reinstating
b. enthusiasm - symbolizing
c. skepticism - deciphering
d. antipathy - involving
e. discernment - evaluating.
If duty is the natural _________ of one's the course of future events, then people who are powerful have duty placed on them whether they like it or not.
a. outgrowth - control over
b. arbiter - responsibility for
c. correlate - understanding of
d. determinant - involvement in
e. mitigant - preoccupation with .
Ans : A
Clearly refuting sceptics, researches have _________ not only that gravitational radiation exists but that it also does exactly what the theory _________ it should do.
a. supposed - asserted
b. voubted -warranted
c. assumed - deduced
d. demonstrated - predicted
e. estimated - accepted
Ans : D
The Neolatonists' conception of a deity, in which perfection was measured by abundant fecundity, was contradicted by that of the Aristotelians, in which perfection was displayed in the _________ of creation.
a. variety
b. economy
c. profusion
d. clarity
e. precision.
Ans : B
It is a great _________ to be able to transfer useful genes with as little extra gene material as possible, because the donor's genome may contain, in addition to desirable genes, many genes with _________ effects.
a. Disappointment - superfluous
b. Convenience - exquisite
c. Advantage - deleterious
d. Accomplishment - profound
e. Misfortune - unpredictable.
Ans : C
While admitting that the risks incurred by use of the insecticide were not _________ the manufacturer's spokesperson argued that effective _________ were simply not available.
a. indeterminable - safeguards
b. unusual - alternatives
c. inconsequential - substitutes
d. proven - antidotes
e. increasing - procedures.
Ans : C
Human reaction to the realm of though is often as strong as that to sensible presences; our higher moral life is based on the fact that _________ sensations actually present may have a weaker influence on our action than do ideas of _________ facts.
a. emotional - impersonal
b. familiar - symbolic
c. disturbing - ordinary
d. material - remote
e. defenitive - controvoisial.
Ans : D
Some scientists argue that carbon compounds play such a central role in life on earth because of the possibility of _________ resulting from the carbon atom's ability to form an unending series of different molecules.
a. variety
b. stability
c. deviations
d. invigorations
e. reproduction.
Ans : A
It would be difficult for one so _________ to be led to believe that all men are equal and that we must disregard race, color and creed.
a. intolerant
b. democratic
c. emotional
d. patient
e. broadminded.
Ans : A
An occasional _________ remark spoiled the _________ that made the paper memorable.
a. colloquial
b. trite - cliches
c. urbane - sophisticated
d. hackneyed - originality
e. jovial - fun.
Ans : D
Broadway audiences have become inured to _________ and so _________ to be pleased as to make their ready ovations meaningless as an indicator of the quality of the production before them.
a. cleverness : eager
b. condescension : disinclined
c. sentimentality : reluctant
d. mediocrity : desperate
e. histrionics : unlikely
Ans : D
Nineteenth - century scholars, by examining earlier geometric Greek art, found that classical Greek art was not a magical _________ or a brilliant _________ blending Egyptian and Assyruin art, but was independently evolved by Greeks in Greece.
a. conversion - annexation
b. apparition - amalgam
c. stratagem - appropriation
d. paradigm - construct
e. example - synthesis
Ans : B
The struggle of the generations is one of the obvious constants of human affairs; therefore, it may be presumptuous to suggest that the rivalry between young and old in western society during the current decade is _________ critical.
a. archetypally
b. perennially
c. disturbingly
d. uniquely
e. cautiously
Ans : D
Even though in today's Soviet union the - Muslim clergy have been accorded power and privileges, the Muslim laity and the rank _________ and _________ file clergy still. Have little - to practice their religion.
a. adversaries of - inclination
b. traditionalists among - incentive
c. practitioners among - opportunity
d. leaders of - latitude
e. dissidents within -obligation
Ans : D
Unlike the Shakespearean plays, The ''closet dramas'' of the nineteenth century were meant to be _________ rather than _________ .
a. seen - acted
b. read - acted
c. produced - acted
d. quiet - loud
e. sophisticated - urbane
Ans : B
The little known but rapidly expanding use of computers in mapmaking is technologically similar to the more _________ uses in designing everything from bolts to satellites.
a. ingenuous
b. recent
c. secure
d. publicized
e. successful
Ans : D
Although his out numbered troops fought bravely, the general felt he had no choice but to _________ defeat and _________ a retreat.
a. oversee - reject
b. acknowledge - order
c. hasten - suggest
d. seek - try
e. overcome - request
Ans : B
No hero of ancient or modern times can surpass the Indian with his lofty contempt of death and the _________ with which he sustained the cruelest coffliction.
a. guide
b. assent
c. reverence
d. fortitude
e. concern
Ans : D
The hostess attempted to _________ a romantic atmosphere that would bring the two young people together in _________ .
a. expand - fealty
b. present - collusion
c. simulate - conflict
d. introduce - cacophony
e. contrive - matrimony
Ans : E
Employers who retire people who are willing and able to continue working should realize that _________ age is not an effective _________ in determining whether an individual is capable of working.
a. intellectual - criterion
b. Chronological - criterion
c. Physical - barrier
d. deteriorating - value
e. chronological - factor
Ans : B
As the sun rose, the morning mists were borne away on the _________ like strands of _________ .
a. whirlwind - flotsam
b. wind - cactus
c. morass - tundra
d. zephyr - gossamer
e. holocaust - taffeta
Ans : D
The playwright was known not for his original ideas that had been propounded by others.
a. rejection
b. consideration
c. invention
d. reiteration
e. plagiarism
Ans : E
The gypsy girl, decked out in _________ finery, and with her disheveled hair streaming over shoulders, was indeed a _________ sight.
a. verdant - wistful
b. sartorial - flagrant
c. specious - poignant
d. tawdry - bizarre
e. opulent - debonair
Ans : D
Yellow fever, the disease that killed 4,000 Philadelphians in 1793, and so _________ Memphis, Tennessee, that the city lost its charter, has reappeared after nearly two decades in _________ in the western hemisphere.
a. disabled - quarantine
b. decimated - abeyance
c. terrorized - contention
d. ravaged - secret
e. coupled - quiescence
Ans : B
The painting was larger than it appeared to be, for hanging in a darkened recess of the chapel, it was _________ by the perspective.
a. embellished
b. improved
c. jeopardised
d. aggrandized
e. diminished
Ans : E
We have in America _________ speech that is neither American, Oxford English, nor English but a _________ of all three.
a. motley - miracle
b. nasal - blend
c. feigned - patchwork
d. mangled - medley
e. hybrid - combination
Ans : E
Old beliefs die hard, even when jobs become _________ the long _________ standing fear that unemployment could return at a moments notice _________ .
a. protected - subsided
b. vacant - perished
c. available - receded
d. plentiful - persisted
e. easier - charged
Ans : D
Not only the _________ are fooled by pcopagandas we can all be misled if we are not _________ .
a. people - mature
b. ignorant - cynical
c. masses - cautious
d. uncultured - concerned
e. gullible - wary
Ans : E
_________ merciful by nature, he was _________ toward the murderer.
a. although - unmoving
b. while - unjust
c. truly - indicative
d. though - kind
e. albeit - implacable
Ans : E
When the news of his _________ with the enemy become known, he was hanged in _________ .
a. collusion - effigy
b. conversation's - earnest
c. involvement - martyrdom
d. complacency - retaliation
e. bickering - response
Ans : D
He was so _________ by the interplay of the colors that varied in brilliance and pattern as the music rose and fell, that he asked the price of the device.
a. overwrought
b. penalized
c. repelled
d. inteugued
e. penalized
Ans : D
The absence of a sense of outrage and grief at national tragedy is an _________ of moral responsibility.
a. intervention
b. energising
c. abdication
d. administration
e. actuation.
Ans : C
Samuel Clemens chose the _________ Mark Twain as a result of his knowledge of river boat piloting.
a. mountebank
b. protagonist
c. misanthrope
d. hallucination
e. pseudonym.
Ans : E
To meet all _________ a source of _________ electrical power was added to the train's engine.
a. Integuments - parallel
b. possibilities - incidental
c. amenities - diverse
d. contingencies - auxiliary
e. conveniences - automatic.
Ans : D
Since the escaping vapors proved to be highly _________ , measures were at once taken for the _________ of the experiments.
a. Volatile - ratification
b. Observable - insulation
c. Gaseous - reduction
d. Noxious - cessation
e. Incriminating - destruction.
Ans : D
Eric Fromm does not agree that man is _________ in Freudian sexual dilemmas for if the _________ that man creates can be changed for the better, there is hope that the state of man can be changed as well.
a. Tortured - goals
b. Trapped - institutions
c. Caught - symbols
d. Engulfed - life
e. Confused - meanings.
Ans : B
As man reached the stars, a booming population threatened to destroy the _________ of life on his home planet and even its chances for _________ .
a. Quality - survival
b. Basis - growth
c. Existence - upliftment
d. chances - improvement
e. meaning - understanding.
Ans : A
Until the current warming trend exceeds the range of normal climatic fluctuations, there will be, among scientists, considerable _________ the possibility that increasing levels of atmosphere Co2 can cause long term warming effects
a. interest in
b. uncertainty about
c. experimentation on
d. enthusiasm for
e. worry about
Ans : B
Having no sense of moral obligation, shipler was as little subject to the _________ of conscience after he acted as he was motivated by its _________ before he acted.
a. balm - eloquence
b. qualms - atonement
c. reproaches - prompting's
d. rewards - chastisement
e. ridicule - allure
Ans : C
Famous among job seekers for its _________ , the company, quite apart from generous salaries, bestowed on its executives annual bonuses and such _________ as low - interest home mortgages and company cars.
a. largesse - perquisites
b. altruism - credits
c. magnanimity - reparations
d. discernment - prerogatives
e. inventiveness - benefits
Ans : A
Moving and parked, the automobile devours urban land, leaving the buildings as mere _________ of habitable space in a sea of dangerous and ugly traffic
a. asylums
b. remnants
c. blocks
d. mountains
e. islands
Ans : E
In the current research program, new varieties of apple trees are evaluated under different agricultural _________ for tree size, bloom density, fruit size, _________ to various soils, and resistance to pests and disease.
a. conditions - adaptability
b. configurations - propensity
c. circumstances - proximity
d. auspices - susceptibility
e. regulations - conformity
Ans : A
For many young people during the roaring twenties, a disgust with the excesses of American culture _________ a wanderlust to provoke an exodus abroad.
a. reflected
b. stymied
c. conflicted with
d. overwhelmed
e. combined with
Ans : E
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